What to Remember About User Feedback
When your app is finally released, people start using it. They get happy about some features or they get confused… They begin to discuss your app on the social networks, to write comments in the AppStore or Google Play and send you their thoughts and opinions using other communication channels.
You receive feedback.
Feedback is important. It helps you to improve your application, to make your users happier. But you should use it with a great caution. Your product can easily get worse if you would interpret the feedback incorrectly.
There are a few points to remember while working with the user feedback to avoid misinterpretation.
Don’t assume, ask.
People don’t usually verbalise all the information while talking to each other. They actively use the context of the conversation and their background to optimise communications.
When professionals with the same background talk, they can understand each other with just a tiny pieces of verbal information. It is amazing how efficient these conversations are.
On the other hand, things can get messy when people have different backgrounds. It is hard to explain an operation with a computer to someone who is completely non-technical. You have to explain every single detail of the operation. Otherwise they either don’t understand what to do or, even worse, they will try to guess what you actually meant.
The problem is, that your typical user, probably, has vastly different background from yours. Therefore, it is really important to fill gaps in the verbal information. What exactly did user mean when he wrote “the UI is confusing”? Ask for details, don’t try to guess. Use questions like: “what step of the process was difficult for you?” or similar.
Eliminate assumptions, ask for information. Fill the gaps in the feedback.
Users usually don’t point to problems, they suggest solutions.
Users frequently request a feature or suggest an improvement to your application. They provide a solution. They don’t usually describe the problem they faced. The solution can look reasonable or it can look weird. But even the craziest suggestion might have a very valuable problem behind it.
Don’t take the feedback literally. Don’t focus on the provided solutions, find the problems behind them. Techniques like “5 Whys” or “Empathy maps” may help you with it.
You can’t make an app perfect for everyone.
Users might have their own opinion on what your application should do and how it should look. If you have a plenty of users, you might receive a wide variety of these opinions.
You should have your own vision for what your app is and what your app is not. Also, you should know who the core of your audience are.
If you have an app for a regular user, and it is used by regular users, it makes no sense to implement features that are valuable only for professionals (e.g. workflow scripting). If you have an app that user will spend hours in, it should be different from an app that is used for a minute to glance at some information.
It is impossible to make an app great for everyone, but it is very possible to make it bad for everyone, due to the lack of a vision.
Know what your app is, and what your app is not, have a vision.
“Many users have requested it”.
Imagine, you have received 50 requests to add the feature X.
It is easy to decide to implement it. It is easy to justify this decision: many users have asked you about it.
However, this information is not enough to make a decision.
“How many users have not asked about this feature?” — this question is really important to ask yourself. The majority of your users probably are happy with your app already. They didn’t ask for anything. How will it affect them?
No matter how popular the request is, ask yourself: “Will it make the app better or worse for the majority of the users?”.
“No” is not an insult
It is hard to say “no” to your users. It is especially hard because they spend some time to write the feedback. You might think that “no” is an insult, but the negative impact of it is overestimated.
Actually, saying “no” is a really valuable tool. It helps you to focus on the most important tasks. If a user suggests something that is not consistent with your vision, or if you have more valuable things on your desk now — it is perfectly okay to say “no”.
Learn to say “no” to your users.
Feedback is a powerful tool in your toolbox. When it is used properly, it helps you to improve your product and to make it more and more valuable. Keep these points in mind when working with the feedback.
Good luck!
Further reading
